Breakdown of Det känns frustrerande och meningslöst att vänta.
det
it (neuter)
och
and
att
to
vänta
to wait / to expect (a baby)
kännas
to feel (to have a certain feel, to seem)
frustrerande
frustrating
meningslös
meaningless
Questions & Answers about Det känns frustrerande och meningslöst att vänta.
Why is meningslöst in the neuter form with a -t at the end?
When you use an adjective to evaluate an action or an infinitive phrase (like att vänta, "to wait"), Swedish uses the dummy pronoun det ("it") as the grammatical subject. Because det is a neuter word, standard adjectives describing the situation must take the neuter -t ending.
Since det requires a neuter adjective, why doesn't frustrerande also get a -t at the end?
Frustrerande is a present participle (a verb acting as an adjective, ending in -ande or -ende, much like the English "-ing"). A strict rule in Swedish is that these words never change their form. They don't take a -t for neuter words or an -a for plurals.
Why do we use känns with an -s here instead of just känner?
In Swedish, the active verb känner is used when a living subject feels an emotion or physically touches something (for example, jag känner mig trött, "I feel tired"). When describing the impression a situation or object gives off (like "it feels frustrating"), you must add the -s to make it känns.
How is the word meningslöst built?
It is built from the noun mening (meaning or sense) and the suffix -lös (which means "-less" or "without"). The -s- in the middle is a linking letter often used to glue Swedish compound words and suffixes together. Finally, the -t is added because the adjective is matching the neuter pronoun det.
Learn Det känns frustrerande och meningslöst att vänta and more in Swedish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free